Govt asks companies to disclose wheat purchases

India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, asked individuals and companies to notify the government of any purchases of the grain exceeding 10,000 tonnes to control price increases, the food ministry said.

Wheat buyers will need to submit details to state governments of purchases they make starting April 1, based on where most of the grain is bought, the food ministry said in a statement on the government website.

Tight disclosure norms may help India prevent hoarding of wheat and track prices at a time when the nation's inflation hovers around a nine-month high.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on March 4 the government may take more steps to curb inflation as the winter crop of wheat, rice and lentils is expected to slow this year.

Wheat prices have more than doubled in the past year after a drought hurt crops in Canada and Australia. The freeze in April, followed by excessive rainfall, curbed yields in the US, fuelling speculation farmers won't produce enough to meet demand.

Indian companies and individuals will also need to furnish a monthly consolidated report to the federal food ministry if purchases exceed 25,000 tonnes, it said.

India may import 2 million tonnes of wheat in the year starting July 1 after dry weather pared output, according to the US Foreign Agricultural Service. The country's imports were estimated at 1.8 million tonnes in the year earlier period.

Wheat production in the South Asian nation may drop 1.3 million tonnes to 74.5 million tonnes in the March-April harvest after farmers planted the crop on a smaller area compared with the year earlier period, the Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report dated February 20.